The present invention relates to agricultural apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved agricultural apparatus adapted to be carried behind a vehicle such as a tractor.
The present invention has particular applicability to interseeding or intercropping wherein one crop, such as soybeans or cotton, is planted in the same field as another crop, such as wheat, prior to the harvest of the wheat. While many of the advantages of the present invention will be discussed with respect to this technology, it should be understood by one skilled in the art that the particular aspects of the present invention have applicability far beyond intercropping and, in particular, have general agricultural applicability.
In general, individual agricultural implements, such as seed openers, field cultivators, S-tines, bedding equipment and the like, are mounted on individual frames or tool bars with hitch means such as three-point hitch connectors attached by welding or the like to the particular tool bars. With respect to intercropping and otherwise, the particular tools that a farmer may desire to utilize with respect to an activity may vary depending on such things as soil and weather conditions. For example, depending on the soil conditions, a farmer may desire to use one type seed opener for crop planting as opposed to a different type seed opener, for example, a double disk seed opener versus an S-tine opener apparatus. It may even be desirable to switch back and forth in different parts of a single field.
In the past, it has been necessary for the farmer to replace the entire implement to shift from one application to another such as described above. Such an exercise requires increased equipment cost to the farmer in that he must maintain the various complete implements for the needed conditions as well as additional labor time if it is necessary to transfer a seed hopper or the like from one piece of equipment to another.
In addition, in known metered hopper systems where seed, fertilizer or the like is dispensed at a metered rate by use of a ground contact drive wheel, situations arise in which the assembly to which such ground drive wheel is attached will be raised above the ground a sufficient amount so that the drive contact wheel loses contact with the earth. Such could occur, for example, when a seed coulter rides up on a raised portion of the ground. Of course when this happens, the metering hopper is not driven because it is not in contact with the ground and it ceases to meter, with resultant loss in planting or distribution of fertilizer or the like.